Limbs and head flopped out to sleep. Looking d-e-d.Filed under: Fixed it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: blouse, dart, Hong Kong finish, purple, refashion, silk, thrifted
My purple obsession is bordering on…obsessive. I am heeding advice to stock up while everyone thinks purple’s all fresh and trendy, for the days when my love is finally left alone.
Grabbed up a size 22 shell at the thrifts for $2. It’s a beautiful purple color and it’s pure silky silk.
The neck has some great details, too. There used to be an invisible zipper up the side — no more. I thought this was going to be a simple fix – pull in the sides, pin, baste, sew. And you know I love refitting giant tops to fit me because of the resulting long length and the de facto cap sleeves.
Alas, some pesky darts got in the way. My refashions are sometimes lazy. I didn’t want to rehem anything or refinish any edges. So I ended up making darts on my own to pull up the slack so the front matched the back at the armhole and hem.
Took three tries to get it right. Here’s one of the mistakes
I kept trying very long darts that went along the bias and were hard to sew. Unclear why – had some impression from a vintage pattern it was the way to go.
In the end, wide, straight darts ended up working right.
Tried out a Hong Kong finish on the edges to keep it all smart looking, cutting the tape from the side scraps. So little waste!
And now I have a new silk blouse.
That’s so ready for a stretchy purple sequined belt.
Filed under: Fixed it, Hoarding it, How to do it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: how to, refashion, skirt, top
I had one of these:
Remember? I didn’t want a shiny tush.
So now I have one of these:
Here’s how to make a top from a straight skirt.
Unpick the elastic waist. Remove the side hanger loops. Open out the waistband casing.
Unpick the skirt’s side seams far enough to comfortably fit your arms, the same distance on both sides.
Turn the skirt inside out. Press down the seam allowances to sew — don’t open them out. I used a long stitch set to wide zig zag.
With the skirt still inside out, pin a few inches at the top of what used to be the waist. These are about to become your shoulder seams. Keep fitting and pinning until you like the way it looks and fits.
Stitch both sides.
Press down the seam allowance at the neck, what used to be the waist, between the shoulder seams. Stitch both sides or finish as you like.
I used a knit skirt with a little stretch so the top fits over my head. You could also put in a keyhole closure in the back if you need to get the thing over your noggin. I might try that on the next one.
In the end, since the skirt had some curves in the sides to accommodate hips, I ended up straightening the side seams a bit so the thing wouldn’t poof out.
Filed under: Help me, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it, Uncategorized | Tags: dress, Hawaiian, pattern, present, refashion, Salvy
I owe my sister-in-law a birthday present and had bought her this vintage Hawaiian dress to wear at my mom’s beach house, where us ladies like to roam the joint in muu-muus. That’s a true story. Mine’s green. Sister’s is red and white, our mom’s is leopard print.
SIL, who loves pink, didn’t have one, so I thought about hemming the original maxidress a little to fit her. It’s really good heavy fabric and has this great scoop back.
But.
What if she and her 4-year-old had the same dress? What if I hemmed the thing to the knee, a length she’s more likely to actually wear, and use the *good* foot of fabric at the bottom to make a dress for my niece?
I pulled out my little girl patterns and found a handful of possibilities for my niece.
The halter patterns on the left are very summer, but I think in the spirit of the muu-muu, I’m going with the dress on the right, the one with the ruffled skirt. I think it’ll fit the fabric I have better, too.
Thoughts while I hem the original dress? 4-year-olds still like to match their moms, right?
Filed under: How to do it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: alter, how to, refashion, sweater
I’m not scared to alter sweaters anymore, having practiced a bunch now, and I’m not even using a serger.
Here’s how to do a sleeveless shell I just refashioned from a giant silk sweater set:
Try the thing on. Measure how much needs to come in on both sides. Pin it up.
Line up the underarms and the bottom edge when pinning, ok? Stitch, using a good zig zag.
Trim close to the seam. I like to stitch the same way again finish the edges.
For the outer cardigan, or any sweater with sleeves, you do the sides first, then the sleeves. The amount you trim off the sleeves will likely taper as you get closer to the wrist.
Filed under: How to do it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: red, refashion, Salvy, silk, sweater
I bought this silk sweater set at the Salvy even though at a 1X, it was too big.
The silk was lovely, the muted red color is fantastic and sweater sets are in fact perfect for my work. Also, the bigger size meant the whole thing was longer than normal. And I’ve bought August Silk sweaters before – they last forever if you don’t dry the hell out of them.
Seemed like a worthwhile refashion.
Of course it took a while to get to fixing it. Pathetic: what an easy fix! Used the same technique as this purple sweater
Pulled in the sides. That’s it. Go see the how-to if you like.
The wide neck turned into de facto cap sleeves so I don’t need the top layer in the office.
Thinking now about adding ruffles using the scraps I cut off the sides and this trusty how-to.
